IRS Issues Regulations on Minimum Essential Coverage

The Internal Revenue Service (the ?Ç£IRS?Ç¥) issued proposed regulations regarding the individual mandate requirement under the Affordable Care Act.?á Specifically, the regulations address the requirement that individuals maintain ?Ç£minimum essential coverage.?Ç¥?á Beginning this year, a taxpayer is liable for a shared-responsibility payment if the taxpayer (or any nonexempt individual whom the taxpayer may claim as a dependent) does not have minimum essential health care coverage in a month included in that tax year.?á Married taxpayers filing a joint return are jointly liable for the payment.?á The IRS previously issued final regulations on the shared responsibility payment, but those regulations left a number of open issues, which the proposed regulations address.?á The proposed regulations apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.?á The proposed regulations are available here.